Designer Babies - CASE STUDY

Most of us know families where all the children are of the same sex, either boys or girls. In at least some of these cases, the parents often wish for at least one more child of the other sex. They desire this, not because they do not like or appreciate the children they already have, but because their hopes and dreams of parenthood often involve having a child of the other sex. A father may dream of teaching a son sports or being the father of the bridge, a mother may look forward to sharing in her daughter’s journey into womanhood or her son’s carrying on of the family name.

Until recently, these desires would remain unfulfilled unless they were lucky. Now physicians have available a technique called PGD (Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis), which allows physicians to screen embryos for a wide range of possible diseases as well as for gender. Suitable embryos can then be implanted, while the future parents may decide not to implant other embryos. These other embryos, depending on the reasons why they were rejected, may be destroyed or given to other infertile couples, where they will be implanted in the woman and (hopefully) brought to term.

Consider the following three questions in regard to PGD:• What restrictions, if any, should the government impose on the use of PGD? • What restrictions, if any, should physicians and health care organizations impose of the use of PDG? • What moral considerations should prospective parents consider in regard to their use of PDG?